The journey begins

The cold became present, the fog began to appear in the forest, the more I advanced the fog became thicker, my heart was filled with bitterness mixed with anger, I had lost everything, so much time has passed since the sacrifice, and for what? for nothing. Now I lost my mother to that false king, how long will they keep hunting us? 

I began to sing a lullaby that my mother used to sing to me to calm me down. I continued to walk deeper into the heart of the forest as I replicated the song of my memories: 

The wind begins to carry the feelings of the heart, mother tree points the way of the hero, your light dispels doubts like the steel of a sword.... 

Lost in my thoughts, I am interrupted by the appearance of a strangely dressed stranger. 

I am completely anxious, I start to put clothes quickly in the suitcase I have on the bed, after so much insisting at the university they accepted my thesis project and today is the big day of the trip to Ireland. 

I have already checked my passport a lot of times, of course I don't want to miss anything, because at last I will be able to explore the ruins of Leap Castle located in County Ofally, Ireland. 

Excuse my excitement, I introduce myself, my name is Gran Venture, I am 21 years old, I am a little out of shape, but I am working on it, I have blond hair, blue eyes, my face is adorned by a small scar on my chin that I got as a child, I am Chilean with English nationality, I currently live in the United States University, since my father works at the privileged University of Oregon Archaeologists, and as you can imagine I followed my father's steps, once I finish my Thesis I will finally be a full-fledged Archaeologist. 

Now I find myself putting my brushes kit in my suitcase, at last I was ready, I looked at my cell phone to check the time, there was still some time left for the cab to come and pick us up... yes I speak in plural because.... 

-Gran, can you come and help me, I can't close my suitcase? 

-Yes of course, I'll finish dressing and I'll be right there Hero. 

-I wouldn't mind if you came as you are. 

I take a long sigh, the voice you just heard is my sister Alice's, I call her Hero, after her favorite Greek mythology character, even though she is my sister... let's see, not by blood... let me explain, my father adopted her when I was 10 years old, we were raised together, and we have always been very close. Thanks to her I was able to overcome the premature death of my mother who died of a rare blood disease when I was a child. 

When we were growing up, because of life things, at some point Hero falls in love with yours truly, honestly for me it was something quite uncomfortable, I love Hero, but as my little sister, well, we are both the same age. 

Eventually I rejected her, that was one of the most torturous moments of my life, I thought that, by denying her feelings, our sibling relationship was going to go to hell, but she took it in a very mature way, although to this day I still give me pretty direct innuendos. 

I put on my black sweater of the prestigious brand "arrow" and some blue jeans that you can find in any flea market, yes as you can see I like to combine the expensive with the cheap, for me it's like mixing the past and the future... yes I know, it's a silly thing that has nothing to do, but I like it. 

I went into Hero's room which by spatial arrangement (Hero asked our father that we were close) was in the door adjacent to mine.... 

The room was in chaos, there were clothes and study material all over the place, the worst thing was her suitcase, no matter how hard she tried to close it she could never close it, she was trying to stuff in three times the contents of what the suitcase could handle. 

-But what hurricane passed through here and why are you in your underwear? 

In a very childish way Hero stuck her tongue out at me, she was pretty with Caucasian skin, her long hair was as black as night, she was of Japanese Scottish descent, unfortunately her family died when she was 5 years old in a fire, her father managed to throw her out the window before the fire took her life as well. 

-Great you came in without knocking, tell me the truth Did you want to see your beautiful sister while she was changing her clothes...I've perverted. 

She fiddled with her bra to tease me, she was wearing her favorite pink underwear with drawings of Hestia from gutting the narrative. 

-If you called me in the first place... now stop playing with your depraved chest. 

I grabbed the first sweatshirt I could find and threw it effusively at his head. 

-Wear it nude. 

-I love how nervous you get Gran, wait before you dress me don't you have something to tell me. 

I stared at him for a while, until I noticed that he began to delicately move his hips from side to side. Below his navel towards his right hip there was a small tattoo of a tower with a small light. 

I moved a little closer and bent down to get a good look at it. 

-Finally you got the tattoo based on Hero's story, it looks wonderful. 

I looked tenderly into Hero's eyes, I could see a slight blush on her face, then she got a little nervous. 

-Turn around to finish dressing me. 

"She was all this time half-naked and now she's embarrassed, but who understands you Hero?" 

After a while, we tidied up the room and put her suitcase in order. 

-We've been together for 14 years, 14 years where we constantly travel the world and you still don't know how to pack a suitcase. 

-I don't need to, you'll always be there to pack mine. 

-Hero, I'm not going to be all.... 

The buzzing of my phone interrupted me, I quickly checked, the cab had already arrived. 

-Fuck, Hero hurry up, the cab is here, don't forget your passport and special papers. 

-Okidoki 

I ran to my room, grabbed my luggage, put some things away and grabbed my passport, I immediately went to the vehicle that was parked outside the university, inside the cab there was a gentleman dressed in a black suit. 

The gentleman -Grand Venture? 

-That's me, sir, my sister is coming right away. 

The cab driver nodded, as I went to the trunk, I opened it and gently put the suitcase inside, inside it I was carrying delicate utensils. 

My sister came somewhat hurriedly, she was dressed in a blue suit with a white shirt, the collar was adorned with a red tie with magnifying glass designs, and she was wearing matching loafers. 

As you can see she likes men's clothes, but she also has a love for skirts, sometimes she even goes so far as to combine those two styles. 

-Relax, we're on schedule, I rushed you for nothing, I'm too anxious. 

-I'm not in a hurry for that, we have been planning this trip since we entered. 

I just smiled, he really looks adorable in his own way. 

I totally understood Hero's feelings, our father inherited us a taste for history, his past and intrigues. 

While I was sunk in my thoughts, I see my sister running out to the entrance of the university to hug a middle-aged man. 

-Dad... 

I went towards them, really because of our father's busy schedule I thought he wouldn't be able to say goodbye. 

-You know Gran, I can read on your face that you thought this old man wasn't coming. 

It caught me a little by surprise, he was stroking Alice's hair. 

My father's name is Ackerman Venture, he has the face of an average Englishman with his big blond mustache, his voice is quite deep, he was dressed formally in his favorite coat that came down to his ankles and he was wearing black leather gloves that hid his burnt hands. 

- Yeah, I thought you weren't coming because you were supposed to be giving a lecture on the Battle of Stirling Bridge. 

I looked at the time on my phone. 

-Yes, you should be in the lounge right now. 

-I slipped out for a while, to say goodbye to my two sons. 

Dad tweaked his mustache, a little nervously. 

-Alice, Gran, remember that you will always have each other, no matter what happens, support each other no matter what, you understand me? 

We both nodded, what happened next was something quite unexpected, he has always given us whatever we needed, he didn't show us much paternal affection, but it was his way of being, thanks to him I can say that Hero and I are what we are, that's why I was surprised when he hugged us both. 

-I am proud of you. 

Dad, is something wrong? 

-No, my little one, are you wearing the daggers I gave you? 

There was certainly something strange about our dad, it's not the first time we were separated, so his attitude was something new. 

-Yes, we have everything ready, we also prepared the papers, so that the daggers can pass through customs. 

-Well done young scouts, Alice, my girl, let me have some time alone with Gran. 

Alice went over to give our father a hug, squeezed him a little and went to the cab. 

-What's wrong? 

-Nothing important, but you should read this, I'd rather you knew, and not be taken by surprise. 

Dad passed me a newspaper, it was today's edition, the newspaper was marked with a red pencil the headline of a news item "24 year old girl disappears in Ireland because of mysterious fog. 

-What's so important about that. 

Read more carefully Gran. 

Eliot Marquez is added to the missing due to the strange fog that appears in the surroundings of Leap Castle, this case is added to the one of 4 years ago with the disappearance of Mashino Yamegawa.... 

-You can rest assured that we have survived worse than this in the past. 

-I am, but I prefer my children to be informed and prepared. 

-Thank you dad. 

-One more thing Gran, listen to me well, although you are brothers, you do not share your blood line... I tell you this, so that you do not suffer for it, and do not make Alice suffer, if you ever have something with Alice do not blame yourself. 

I felt ashamed of what they were saying to me. 

-What are you saying, we are brothers and that's it, besides, it seems that you are giving me permission to... you are acting very strange. 

My father took his pipe out of his pocket, put some tobacco in it, lit it with a match and took a long smoke. 

-I'm just getting old, I won't take up any more of your time, come on, have a great adventure. 

I said goodbye to my father, and got into the cab, when the vehicle started to drive we managed to hear a last message that our father shouted to us. 

-Protect Alice, and don't forget to take care of yourself, prove your worth. 

-Don't you think he was acting strange, Hero. 

-He was acting strange. 

I looked out the window. I wonder why he mentioned about being Hero's partner. 

-What did I want to say to you alone? 

My face turned red as a tomato. 

-Nothi... nothing. 

-Don't be mean, tell me. 

-No way. 

He started punching me repeatedly in the arm. 

-Break up a little Hero. 

We met our professor Hector at the airport, he is already an old man, he is 71 years old, even so, he was a well known English paleontologist, he is going to be our guide through Ireland, normally any student would be honored to have him as a guide, but, professor Hector has a reputation of hating young people, besides with my sister we wanted to make this trip alone, because our thesis really is a simple facade, what we are interested in is an event from our past. 

-Young Venture, do you have everything ready, have you already checked in, look at arriving at this time of the day. 

Professor Hector's voice is soporific, Hero was taking selfies with her phone, it's not something very common of her, but she has a tradition of taking a picture in every airport she has been in. 

-Yes professor, everything is ready, sorry for our delay. 

-That little girl taking pictures of herself how childish and dressing as if she were a gentleman, what a disgrace. 

I bit my lip not to answer that decrepit old man if he insults Hero again I'm going to beat him up..... Calm down Gran. 

Professor Hector went to buy some of his favorite snack, peanuts. 

-Gran, smile. 

Hero clung to me to take a picture of us together, I probably came out horrible, it caught me by surprise. 

-It's our first trip together without dad, I have to frame this moment to show our kids. 

-Hey... But what kids or anything perverted, besides focus we have to do something with the teacher. 

-You look cute when you blush, li-ttle bro-ther. 

She blew in my ear and burst out laughing, on the one hand I was annoyed, on the other hand I wanted to laugh with her, but this time I had to be serious. 

-We've been wanting to go back to the ruins of Leap for years to make sense of what happened 9 years ago, Alice. 

Hero's face abruptly changed to one of sadness, she knows I only call her by her name when I get mad at her. 

-You ruined the party. 

She turned around and went to get in line to board the plane. 

- All right young man, may I remind you that this trip is a scientific field trip, your father informed me that you have a special interest in Leap Castle, so you should be preparing yourself instead of playing with your sister. 

-Professor, don't just show up out of the blue, I almost had a heart attack. 

-We are going to a place that is certainly dangerous, and I am not referring to those trivialities believed by the masses of ghost fables, but the castle is in ruins, so the structures are deteriorated and there could be an accident. 

-Sir, I take into account the state of the castle, we are wearing special helmets and iron toe boots in case any stone should come loose. 

-I think it's perfect that you are taking the necessary precautions, although let me tell you Mr. Gran that, if it were up to me, I would never have let you and your sister go to those ruins, two novices like you don't have what it takes, and I'm worried that you might damage such a historical monument. 

I gave him a fake smile, Hector may be a renowned historian, and one of the most recognized paleontologists in the world, but for me he is a great nuisance. 

-I promise you that we will be very careful, professor. 

-I hope so, young Venture. 

Professor Hector walked down the row while muttering a few words. 

-Tsk... these young people can't take anything seriously. 

Grumpy old man, I certainly can't let you meddle. 

We were already in the middle of the flight, Hero and I were sitting next to each other, and luckily Professor Hector was in first class, so we wouldn't have to deal with him during the flight. 

My sister was still annoyed with me, you could see it in the unfriendly face she had, but curiously it made her red eyes stand out more. 

She noticed that I was staring at her. 

-Listen Gran, this is the plan, we will go with the professor to the ruins, we will learn the way, as that geezer is going to be aware that we prowl around the castle a lot, we will explore the nearby forest, after all that was the last time we saw her, once we return to the hotel, I will rent a car, we will wait for Tutankhamun to be sleeping, and we will flee back to the castle. 

It wasn't very normal for her to refer to someone like that, in fact, she had an even more annoyed face than usual. 

-What's wrong with you, Hero? You're not still upset about before? 

-No, I'm not that childish, okay, but I heard how that snake was treating you when I went to the line. 

Hero is usually very overprotective of me, I still remember when I hit her ex-boyfriend in the testicles for calling me a jerk, when I inadvertently... inadvertently spilled wine on his white shirt, the idiot was flirting with a supposed friend of hers, but that's something I'll never tell her. 

I brought my hand to her head to caress it. 

-Then we'll follow your plan, well done, language expert. 

-You're welcome, lover of the earth. 

Sometimes we tend to get annoyed with each other's mastery, she's very good at dead languages, and the living ones even better, me, although I'm not bad at languages, I can't compare with my sister's Greek mythology lover, but digging up and looking for objects is something I do as easy as breathing. 

-I was thinking that if we find out what we saw that night, everything we've been taught so far will go down the drain, archaeology as we know it will change. 

-I know Hero, but until I know what happened that day, I won't be able to be calm, in my mind is engraved like fire what we saw, that woman should not have been there. 

-I already want to see the face dad will make when we have proof of it. 

Hero leaned her head on my shoulder 

-Then it's time to celebrate Hero, at last we'll know if the ghost we saw 9 years ago is real.